English in primary schools – concerns about quality teachers

The plan of the Ministry of Education to introduce English lessons as a compulsory part of the curriculum for 1st year pupils of primary school from September 2011 could face hidden problems.

One major problem will be the lack of teachers, and so also the quality of the tuition. This is the opinion of Zuzana Humajova-Zimenova from the M.R. Stefanik Conservative Institute. The ministry plans to deal with this issue by easing up on qualification requirements for the time being, but this is nothing new as the education system already has around 1,160 teachers teaching language lessons who are not qualified to do so.

“English is a crucial skill for young people today, and so we will push for it” said State Secretary for the Ministry of Education, Jaroslav

A former advisor to the ministry, psychologist Miron Zelina, agrees that the idea of early-learning regarding languages is a good one, but he is also wary, as he also expressed concerns about the level of qualified staff to cope with it.

Any English teachers out there should brace themselves for a wave of job offers.